*[http://www.antiochian.org/node/17410 Archbishop of Baghdad, Kuwait, and Dependencies Recovers in London Hospital

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*[http://www.antiochian.org/node/17410 Archbishop of Baghdad, Kuwait, and Dependencies Recovers in London Hospital]

*[http://www.balamand.edu.lb/theology/Introduction.htm History of St. John of Damascus Institute of Theology]

*[http://www.balamand.edu.lb/theology/Introduction.htm History of St. John of Damascus Institute of Theology]

[[Category: Bishops]]

[[Category: Bishops]]

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[[Category: Bishops of Baghdad]]

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[[Category: Bishop of Baghdad]]

Revision as of 01:19, November 2, 2010

His Eminence Archbishop Constantine (Papastephanou) of Baghdad is the ruling hierarch of the Roum Orthodox Archdiocese of Baghdad, Kuwait and Dependencies of the Church of Antioch.

Life

Constantine was born in 1924 in Damascus, Syria where he was educated in schools and churches of strong Christian faith. Entering an ecclesiastical career, Constantine studied in Greece before he was ordained in 1951 by Patriarch of Antioch, Alexander III (Tahan).

He served as a priest in Damascus and its vicinity for eighteen years. During the latter part of the 1950s he was the director of the Balamand Clerical School. In 1964, Fr. Constantine was appointed by Patr. Theodosius (Abourjaily) VI of Antioch to lead St. Georges Monastery. In 1967, he was given additional responsibility as general steward for the Archdiocese of Hama. In 1984, Metr. Constantine was named to the Synodal Commission by the Holy Synod, charged with administering the St. John of Damascus Institute of Theology. In 1986, Metr. Constantine became the administrator of the Institute itself.

On October 7, 1969, Constantine was elected Bishop of Baghdad, Kuwait and the Arabian Peninsula by the Synod of Bishops of the Antioch patriarchate. On October 17, he was consecratedbishop at the Monastery of St. Elias in Dhor Al Shwair in Lebanon. After his installation, Bp. Constantine set out to visit and organize his archdiocese.

On October 23, 1969, Metr. Constantine arrived in Baghdad to conduct his first liturgy at the Cathedral of St. Andrew the Apostle. On November 20, he visited the Kuwait parish, celebrating the liturgy on the next day in temporary facilities in the National Evangelical Church.

During the following years. Metr. Constantine established a number of Orthodox parishes within the Arabian Gulf area, first in 1980 in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Then in 1998, he established a parish in Oman, followed in 2000 with one in Bahrain.